Citizen asks court to reinstate Kamto; Constitutional Council to review petition today

In a filing addressed to Council president Clément Atangana, Michel Noutchetcassi argues that documents used to justify Kamto’s disqualification were “false” and that the law does not provide for rejecting a presidential candidate on grounds of “double sponsorship” in the circumstances invoked. An EMS courier receipt shows the petition was sent from Douala-Akwa on 22 August under the heading “request for revision/denunciation.” Copies of the complaint reviewed by Cameroon Concord ask the Council to acknowledge the alleged forgeries surrounding a rival claimant inside MANIDEM and to restore Kamto to the ballot for the 12 October vote.

Security was visibly tightened around the Palais des Congrès this morning as judges convened to examine the request. The hearing comes after weeks of friction in Yaoundé: the election board struck Kamto’s name from its provisional list; the MRC called the move “political perfidy”; Interior Minister Paul Atanga Nji told aggrieved contenders to “cry at home, not in the streets”; and a leaked gendarmerie telegram ordered the arrest of an online activist for “insurrection.” City residents have spoken of fear and fatigue, with local reporters noting near-empty avenues whenever rulings are due.

Noutchetcassi’s brief asks the Council to revisit what it calls a “decision without legal basis,” saying the bench ignored its own practice in comparable cases while dismissing evidence presented during earlier proceedings. The document urges the court to “observe the fraud, revise the ruling and reinstate the candidate.”

The Council has ten days to dispose of such petitions, but its past record shows it has never overturned an exclusion issued by the elections body. Even so, the filing forces the court to put in writing whether it accepts or rejects the central claim that the paperwork used against Kamto cannot stand.

Whatever the outcome, the political calculus in Yaoundé is clear:

• If the petition fails, the field remains as published, and pressure will mount on the remaining opposition hopefuls to close ranks or concede another landslide to Paul Biya, now seeking a further seven-year term.

• If the petition succeeds, the electoral calendar will be jolted, ELECAM will need to reprint materials, and campaign dynamics will change overnight, especially among urban youth who have treated Kamto’s exclusion as proof the game is fixed.

For now, the capital holds its breath. Shops open late, traffic thins near the court, and private radio hosts speak in guarded tones. The legal question before the judges is narrow; the political stakes are not.